-
At Free America, we've done
a listening and learning tour.
-
We visited not only with prosecutors
-
but with legislators,
-
with inmates in our state
and local prisons.
-
We've gone to immigration
detention centers.
-
We've met a lot of people.
-
And we've seen
-
that redemption and transformation
can happen in our prisons,
-
our jails
-
and our immigration detention centers,
-
giving hope to those who want
to create a better life
-
after serving their time.
-
Imagine if we also considered
the front end of this prison pipeline.
-
What would it look like
-
if we intervened with
rehabilitation as a core value --
-
with love and compassion as core values?
-
We would have a society that is safer,
-
healthier
-
and worthy of raising our children in.
-
I want to introduce you to James Cavitt.
-
James served 12 years in the
San Quentin State Prison
-
and is being released in 18 months.
-
Now James,
-
like you and me,
-
is more than the worst thing he's done.
-
He is a father, a husband, a son, a poet.
-
He committed a crime;
-
he's paying his debt,
-
and working hard to build the skills
-
to make the transition back
to a productive life
-
when he enters the civilian
population again.
-
Now James,
-
like millions of people behind bars,
-
is an example of what happens
-
if we believe that our failings
don't define who we are,
-
that we are all worthy of redemption
-
and if we support those impacted
by mass incarceration,
-
we can all heal together.
-
I'd like to introduce you
to James right now,
-
and he's going to share
his journey of redemption
-
through spoken word.
-
James Cavitt: Thanks, John.
-
TED, welcome to San Quentin.
-
The talent is abundant
behind prison walls.
-
Future software engineers,
-
entrepreneurs,
-
craftsmen,
-
musicians
-
and artists.
-
This piece is inspired
by all of the hard work
-
that men and women are doing on the inside
-
to create better lives
and futures for themselves
-
after they serve their time.
-
This piece is entitled, "Where I Live."
-
I live in a world where most people
are too afraid to go.
-
Surrounded by tall, concrete walls,
-
steel bars,
-
where razor wire have a way
-
of cutting away at the hopes
for a brighter tomorrow.
-
I live in a world
-
that kill people who kill people
-
in order to teach people
-
that killing people is wrong.
-
Imagine that.
-
Better yet,
-
imagine a world where healed people
helped hurt people heal
-
and become strong.
-
Maybe then we would all
be singin' "Redemption Song."
-
I live in a world that has been called
"hell on Earth"
-
by those trapped inside.
-
But I've come to the stark realization
-
that prison --
-
it really is what you make it.
-
You see in spite of
the harshness of my reality,
-
there is a silver lining.
-
I knew that my freedom was gonna come,
-
it was just a matter of time.
-
And so I treated my first steps
as if they were my last mile,
-
and I realized that you
don't have to be free
-
in order to experience freedom.
-
And just because you're free,
-
doesn't mean that you have freedom.
-
Many of us for years have been
battling our inner demons.
-
We walk around smiling
when inside we're really screamin':
-
freedom!
-
Don't you get it?
-
We're all serving time,
-
we're just in different places.
-
As for me,
-
I choose to be free
from the prisons I've created.
-
The key:
-
forgiveness.
-
Action's my witness.
-
If we want freedom,
-
then we gotta think different.
-
Because freedom ...
-
it isn't a place.
-
It's a mind setting.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)
-
(Piano)
-
John Legend: Old pirates, yes, they rob I.
-
Sold I to the merchant ships.
-
Minutes after they took I
-
from the bottomless pit.
-
My hands were made strong
-
by the hand of the almighty.
-
We forward in this generation
-
triumphantly.
-
Won't you help to sing
-
these songs of freedom?
-
'Cause all I ever had --
-
redemption song.
-
Redemption song.
-
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.
-
None but ourselves can free our minds.
-
Have no fear for atomic energy
-
'cause none of them can stop the time.
-
How long shall they kill our prophets
-
while we stand aside and look?
-
Some say it's just a part of it,
-
we've got to fulfill the book.
-
Won't you help to sing
-
these songs of freedom?
-
'Cause all I ever had --
-
redemption songs.
-
Redemption songs.
-
(Piano)
-
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.
-
None but ourselves can free our minds.
-
Have no fear for atomic energy
-
'cause none of them can stop the time.
-
How long shall they kill our prophets
-
while we stand aside and look?
-
Some say it's just a part it,
-
we've got to fulfill the book.
-
Won't you help to sing
-
these songs of freedom?
-
'Cause all I ever had --
-
redemption song.
-
Redemption song.
-
These songs of freedom.
-
'Cause all I ever had --
-
redemption song.
-
Redemption songs.
-
Redemption songs.
-
(Piano)
-
(Applause)
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)